Eric Adams advances fight against NYC public drug use with new law allowing doctors to involuntarily commit addicts

Mayor Eric Adams wants to make it easier to take drug addicts off the streets — and into treatment against their will.

Adams unveiled the “Compassionate Interventions Act,” a proposed state law that would expand involuntary commitment for people suffering from substance abuse disorders, on Wednesday during an address at the New York Hilton Midtown.

“Today I’m putting forward our proposal for those who have been considered a lost cause,” Adams declared.

The change would help New York City fight public drug use, officials first revealed to The Post — a scourge in places such as the Hub in the Bronx, where addicts openly inject heroin and other narcotics.

The bill — which the Adams administration said would be introduced in the 2026 state legislative session — would put New York in line with 37 other states that allow drug addicts to be involuntarily committed, according to the officials.

An Albany sponsor for the legislation has yet to be identified, however.

Adams argued that the state legislature needs to ignore extreme voices to get the bill done.

“What you are finding is our state houses and our city council have been hijacked by the numerical minority,” he said.

The proposed law would be a sequel of sorts to the Supportive Interventions Act, a new involuntary commitment law that Adams had successfully pushed for during the last legislative session.

Before the change, people could only be committed against their will if they showed a substantial risk to physically harm themselves or others.

The law now allows officials to take mentally ill people off the streets if they’re so sick that they cannot feed, clothe or otherwise take care of their essential needs.

Gov. Kathy Hochul seemed unaware of Adams announcing his new involuntary commitment idea and said she would review the details. She touted the first involuntary commitment legislation she pushed through Albany during the state budget earlier this year.

“I feel proud of what we did in that case, I just don’t know the details of what the mayor is proposing,” Hochul told reporters after an unrelated event in Schenectady Thursday afternoon.

Officials with the governor’s office said the involuntary commitment law passed this year likely would cover mentally ill people who also suffer from substance abuse disorders.

City Hall officials confirmed that they didn’t reach out to the governor’s office, but rather will pursue the legislation on their own.

They argued the recent changes don’t go far enough and fail to account for people who are just high on streets or subways without showing signs of being in mental crisis.

Adams this week launched his “End Anything Goes” campaign, an election-year push to show how his administration is cracking down on public disorder, while expanding services for New Yorkers with mental illness and addiction.

The Compassionate Interventions Act would allow medical professionals to transport people who appear to be struggling with addiction, as well as allow judges to mandate treatment if they refuse voluntary care.

The mayor’s plan will also invest $27 million focused on improving access to drug treatment, boost funding for syringe service programs by $14 million and create a new drop-in space at the Hub, officials said.

Advocates with The Legal Aid Society panned Adams’ proposal, arguing it raises civil rights concerns and fails to address the root causes of substance use.

“Moreover, the Mayor’s attempt to frame this as a ‘quality of life’ measure is revealing — treating people in crisis as a nuisance to be swept out of public view rather than as human beings deserving care and dignity,” the advocates said in a statement.

“Expanding involuntary commitment laws will not solve the drug war or end the overdose crisis; it will only deepen mistrust, waste resources, and cause lasting harm to the very people the City claims to want to help.”